Background

Most of Softday's work addresses the relationship of anthropogenic climate change issues and sound art. Softday have created a number of award-winning multimedia art works concerning water related issues.

In Bliain le Báisteach – A Year of Rain (2000) we took all the rainfall data from Ireland for the full millennium year and made music, performed by the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

In Coisir an Tsionann (The Shannon Suite) we took all the data about salmon migration in the river Shannon and made music, again performed by the Irish Chamber Orchestra. The live performance venue was the ESB Ardnacrusha Power Station in Co.Clare.

In 2009, we created an interactive installation in the Science Gallery in Dublin (part of the Infectious exhibition). In Nobody Leaves till the Daphnia Sing sonified live the life and death of Daphnia Magna in four petri dishes, as a reflection about water quality issues in Ireland and of how water toxicity is detected in a laboratory setting.

In 2010, we had the pleasure to be part of the Lovely Weather Artists Residencies in Co. Donegal in Ireland. Based on a plethora of marine data about marine dead zones (areas where the oxygen level in water is too low to sustain life) we created Marbh Chrois (Dead Zones).

Water is essential for sustaining life. In Uisce Salach (Dirty Water), Softday will establish a unique network of citizen scientists from Dublin Port, the River Liffey and its tributaries in order to initiate a creative dialogue with these citizen scientists and the wider scientific/artistic community to collate data for the creative sonification of water quality. This project will establish an innovative model of creative citizen scientists, increasing awareness of the environmental, economic and social value of diminishing water resources in Dublin. The project will culminate in a new co-authored sound art work.